Letters to the editor for March 28, 2013

The public should be informed that a request is pending to rezone under 5 acres near the Pedro Y to allow for an 80-unit, two-story apartment compound along Union Hill and Parrotts Ferry roads. The plans appear to cram high density suburban quarters and parking — cheek to jowl — into what is now, and has historically been, a wooded dell complete with towering trees and gold-miner shaped rock formations.

Neighborhood concerns include: degradation and disruption of the existing water table, imperiled public safety due to increased traffic collisions on a blind turn, proximity of Columbia Airport flight paths and higher volume stop and go cross traffic; as well as the spectre of this being another boondoggle leading to evermore overtaxed community resources.

The Columbia area relies on its historic appearance and legacy to maintain links to our nation’s golden past and is an irreplaceable asset to generations of schoolchildren, past, present and future. Giving visitors and residents a first impression of Columbia as they round the curve from Highway 49 to Parrotts Ferry, do we want to show them a near pristine glimpse of what the miners of old saw, or a filled and flattened, denuded parking lot crowded around big boxes of ticky tack?

Let the Board of Supervisors know there are certainly property rights we all believe in, but there are also property wrongs. This surely is one and the public needs to be heard on it. At the very least schedule this upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting in the evening when working, productive neighbors can take part in the future of their community.